Steve Agar wrote:
Look out for fallen birch trees on left bank about 2/3 way down the main
section (Cupola Bridge to Plankey Mill)on left hand bend approaching the
only open, flat area on the left bank, and remains of very old iron
footbridge stanchion now fallen into the water near the right bank on the
right hand bend just below the same spot.

Clear hazards in low/medium water, will become more dangerous in high water

This was reported on 4/12/06, if anyone has any more recent information please post below.

Mr Hop wrote:Approx 250m above the confluence with the South Tyne
there is a fallen tree protuding from river right. In low water this blocks
the flow but one can creep underneath with the tree about 2ft above the
water level. At a medium level this could be a significant hazard and should
be treated with caution. At higher levels, staying left will avoid this
hazard.

We ran this on 31st December with the East Allen EA gauge a shade below 0.7m (and falling). It seemed fairly high, all washed out and no more than grade 2/3 (line obvious, not much manoeuvring required) except for Hag Fall, which had a stopper on the left I'd want nothing to do with. There's a very easy line far far right (right of a big stranded tree), but a bit of a strainer in the river below it which nearly caught a couple of the group. Without the strainer it would be no more than grade 3. The fishpal link only shows a West Allen level for the whole day, so not sure what time that relates to (should have looked on the day we ran it, sorry). For the 31st it says just under 3ft, so I guess that calibrates as fairly high. No tree hazards noted.Andy

Ran this at a low level last weekend, there has been a large landslide on the rapid before Hag falls blocking the right hand route, still passable on the left, also many new trees down, all fallen and along the river rather than across but many others look very close to falling.

After the floods of 5th December, there have been several landslips and tree falls all along the river. The recently replaced wobbly bridge at Allen Banks has been wiped out. The National Trust is working hard to clear paths but the river will not be a priority. I haven't paddled the river since but walked a bit of it and there is one very large tree right across the river forming a nasty strainer about 200m below the open meadow section (about 200m above Hag Weir). I would suggest taking the 15 minute walk up from Plankey Mill before running the river at all to inspect as there is no obvious easy short portage. The path and bank has on river right at Hag weir has collapsed, but this shouldn't have changed the fall much, but the far left shoot may have changed as the channel that forms an island on river left below the weir may now be choked with boulders - difficult to see from the bank. There will doubtless be many other trees, large and small, in the river - take care :-)

Update 9th Feb 2016 - The National Trust has closed all the footpaths along the river because the land is still moving in places! They have told me that some trees have naturally been cleared, but there are at least three more down across the river that they can't get to yet. I would suggest avoiding the river for now until they've had a chance to get rid of some of the many obstacles - maybe several weeks!